Review of Ninotchka (1939) by Daniel K — 26 Oct 2007

"Ninotchka" is a very, very good film that goes on for about 15 minutes too long. With that being said, what goes in the hour and a half or so before that is so good that it completely makes up for any dips in quality that occur at the end.

Greta Garbo (who is stunningly beautiful in this film) plays a humorless Soviet beaurocrat named Ninotchka who is sent to Paris in an attempt to sell the jewels of the old Russian royal family (the Soviets seized the jewels when the Czar was deposed during the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917). Unbeknownst to her, the Russian Countess who originally owned the jewels is living the high life in Paris when she gets news of the fact that the jewels are in town and she dispatches her lawyer and paramour to attempt to retrieve them. One thing leads to another and the Countess' boyfriend ends up falling in love with Ninotchka and spends much of the rest of the film trying to get her to let her guard down and defect. Hilarity and romance ensue.

(Spoiler Warning) I mentioned at the beginning of this review that the film goes terribly wrong in the last 15 minutes or so. Due to a series of machinations on the part of the Countess, Ninotchka is forced to go back to Moscow and her dreary Soviet life. Narratively speaking, it makes total sense. But in taking the story back to Russia, all momentum in the narrative comes to a complete stop. As logical as the events in Moscow are, they're just no fun to watch. I just wish that that part of the film had been tighter and shorter because it's the only blemish on an otherwise terrific film.